Portable Power On LocationThe Vagabond Battery System Page 2

Small And Portable
When the package arrived I was really surprised at how small it was. In the
ads I've seen the unit looks pretty large, but in reality it's about
the size of the lens case for my Canon 200mm f/1.8 lens. Eminently portable.
Weight is not too much of an issue either. The Vagabond CU-300 weighs in at
18.5 lbs complete, a full 2 lbs lighter than my Balcar Concept B3 pack. It's
a fairly complete kit as well. You get the whole unit bundled up in a stylish
blue case, the AC adapter for home charging, the DC adapter for car charging,
and a large metal screw, for grounding the unit whenever possible. (Remember
now, you're playing with 110v here, so grounding the unit is a good idea.)

With its shoulder strap, the Vagabond is completely portable.
In fact, for quick location shoots where I didn't want to
fuss with extension cords I brought along the Vagabond, even though
AC power was available nearby.

On The Go
Since I have a nice travel kit consisting of AlienBees B800 and B1600 strobes
and White Lightning X-Series heads, I was ready to go. The whole thing couldn't
be simpler, really. I plugged in the wall charger and the indicator LED on the
charger glowed red. Several hours later I had a green light, and the battery
was charged. I unzipped the top and plugged a multi-outlet strip into one of
the inverters and switched it on. The inverter gives you its own green light
when it is getting healthy 12v, and I noticed the power light on the strip was
glowing red. Plugging in a pair of X1600 monolights I was ready to fire up the
strobes. Since I had inadvertently left the model lights on I was amused to
see the lamps glow.

Clearly, shooting with modeling lamps on full-time is not an option, since the
lamps come on at a reduced output level and flicker badly. This is fairly standard
for inverter power, which pulses power quite noticeably. For a quick preview
of what your strobe will do the modeling lamps should be used for brief periods
of time, but forget about modeling lamp usage while shooting continuously. (Most
location systems that rely on internal battery packs only allow for a 10 second
or so modeling lamp output.)

Performance Measure
The performance of the Vagabond is a difficult thing to measure. Inverters in
general are tough to use with strobes, due to the high instant current draw
that strobes impose on a voltage inverter. Buff's choice of undersized
inverters both showcase the incredible bulletproof qualities of the Buff-designed
light units, and also put a sizable hit on the recycle rate of the strobes.
My X-Series X1600 monolights set to full power recycle in a fairly quick 2 seconds
when plugged into the wall, yet take a touch over 4 seconds on the Vagabond.
Add another unit and the recycle rate takes another hit. If quick shooting on
location is your thing, you might find that you'll have to either dial
your strobes down to 1/2 or 1/4 power, or look into a Hensel, Elinchrom, or
Balcar portable flash unit.

Since the White Lightning and AlienBees units are so efficient, I wind up using
them at 1/2 or lower power most of the time, so I found no problem with the
strobes keeping up with my shooting style. I used the Vagabond system on a half
dozen location shoots, and found that I did not miss a single shot waiting for
my lights. In fact, I spent most of the time using the Vagabond in addition
to a Balcar Concept B3 system--and I fired every time the Balcar beeped,
and never missed a shot due to the White Lightnings not being up to power.

Location Flexibility
On location, the Vagabond really offers a tremendous amount of flexibility for
a photographer. Not only was I able to power my strobes, but I recharged my
client's cell phone, powered a PC laptop and a Titanium Apple PowerBook,
and then banged off well over 100 shots with two heads firing at about 400 ws
each. While extension cords and adapter strips will slightly impact the overall
recycle time due to added resistance, using a $12 extension cord sure beats
using a $250 dedicated 20 foot head extension cable!

Lasting Power
The really cool thing about the Vagabond is the battery life. While I always
found that the large inverters I once used could kill a full-sized car battery
in 60 shots, the Vagabond seems to go on forever. A pair of AlienBees B1600s
set to about 1/2 power fired for almost 300 shots! Even a pair of heads at full
power could be relied upon to provide well over 100 shots. It's tough
to compare the Vagabond to dedicated battery powered studio systems, but I would
say that battery performance is as good if not better than the most expensive,
sophisticated unit on the market.

The big problem with the Vagabond is the near total lack of feedback. There
is no voltage indicator, no "remaining battery life" meter, no segmented
power display--nothing but the red light. Sure it changes colors and beeps
when it is getting depleted, but it's a little tough to expect professionals
to grab the Vagabond from the car trunk without really knowing the shape of
the internal battery.

The sleek Cordura case has its good and bad points. It's very compact
and has a pocket to hold the chargers and grounding spike, but everything fits
so snugly that in the field battery replacement is really not possible. Buff
sold me a very inexpensive spare battery, and I have found it a fairly simple
task to plug one of the inverters into the spare battery, and keep shooting
all day. Since the whole rig is wired up with quick disconnect plugs, it's
pretty simple to get a couple of spare batteries and keep your rig going for
extended shooting sessions.
The Vagabond's main selling point is the value. With the basic package
selling direct from Buff for $349, photographers now have a very inexpensive
way of shooting in any situation, indoors or out. Even if you're the handy
type, finding a Pure Sine Wave inverter, battery, charger, carry bag, and all
of the cabling is sure to set you back $400 or so, and you've still got
to hook everything up without breaking anything. The CU-300 at $499 is also
a terrific deal, since it gives location shooters a tremendous amount of flexibility.
While I had minor issues with the lack of any sort of user interface or control
panel, I have absolutely no issues with the performance or price. It's
a well packaged setup at a phenomenal price.

The Vagabond is so slick and affordable that I imagine it will convince many
serious photographers and working pros to invest in a kit of either White Lightning
or AlienBees lights. A pair of AlienBees B400 strobes and a CU-150 Vagabond
system runs about $800, about $1500 cheaper than the closest battery-powered
studio strobe system. If you need the control and sophistication of the fancier
and more expensive systems then you might find the Vagabond a touch primitive.
In my experience of several location shoots I found no problem using the Vagabond
in the most demanding pro environments.